Ranches Residents Blast Plan

Pembroke Pines Has Agreed To Submit Proposal On Nov. 30

SOUTHWEST RANCHES — Saying they felt betrayed, a group of angry residents told council members Monday to back out of a deal recently reached with Pembroke Pines over road closures.

At a meeting last week, the two municipalities hammered out a tentative agreement that calls for reopening the roadways and making them one-way streets, southbound between Griffin Road on the north and about Southwest 54th Place on the south.

"It's bizarre," said Mary Gay Chaples, about the resolution reached between the two municipalities. "The bottom line is people lost their trust in the council. They felt confident that the workshops had produced a reasonable proposition."

The controversy centers on a bitter, year-old dispute between Southwest Ranches and Pembroke Pines over the closure of three roadways that were barricaded by Southwest Ranches to prevent cut-through traffic.

Southwest Ranches erected the barricades on Southwest 199th, 202nd and 205th at the Pembroke Pines border, which set off a firestorm from residents on the Pembroke Pines side of the closures.

The City of Pembroke Pines contended that the barricades were inconveniencing their residents, hampering the ability of emergency vehicles to get through, and threatened to sue Southwest Ranches if an alternative agreement could not be reached.

Under the recent agreement, "Do Not Enter" signs would warn northbound drivers to stay out, and the mayors promised the limits would be enforced.

Although officials shook hands, the agreement is not final. Pembroke Pines City Attorney Sam Goren will put it in writing by Nov. 30 and the Southwest Ranches council will consider it, possibly at a special meeting on Dec. 20. If the council approves, the Pembroke Pines commission will vote Dec. 21.

Southwest Ranches Councilman Aster Knight said Monday that his vote to support the agreement was a mistake.

"I made a vote that I think was the wrong vote," Knight said. "What the people want is not what we've given them."

At least a dozen residents complained about the position the town council took on the matter.

Speaking about the meeting last week, Noah Hollingsworth said: "I was highly irate. I've never seen a group of politicians have their backbones removed so fast. You should have walked away. Instead, you gave away the baby, the bathwater and the town."

Georgia East can be reached at geast@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7921.